| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
November 23, 2004
Today's sponsor: Actuarial Systems Corporation
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
ASC - QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR THE PENSION INDUSTRY FOR OVER 20 YEARS ASC provides complete automation for the pension office, including: DC/401(k) and DB administration and valuation systems, sophisticated Compliance Testing, DV Direct Daily Valuation, Advanced Information Manager Database (AIM), and Single-Step Processing. All ASC Technical Support Members were experienced Pension Administrators or Actuaries before joining ASC -- and most have been with ASC for over 10 years.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
2004 Plan Year: Year-End Compliance Reminders for Defined Contribution Plan Sponsors (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Every year, defined contribution plan sponsors must make sure their plans meet certain compliance requirements, including those listed .... This checklist identifies the materials you need to review and will help you track their completion." (Prudential Financial)
Missing the "Safe Harbor" Deadline May Be Blessing in Disguise for Employers Implementing 401(k)
Excerpt: "Is there anything an employer can do to recapture the retirement planning opportunity lost if he missed the October 1, 2004 deadline for establishing a 'Safe Harbor' 401(k) Plan? The answer may surprise you... For many small employers implementing a 401(k) plan for the first time (or first adding a 401(k) feature to an existing plan), their procrastination may actually result in a positive outcome. The following case study outlines how missing the 'Safe Harbor' deadline may turn ...." (Milberg Consulting LLC)
Overview on Long Awaited Proposed Rules Codifying 40 Years of 403(b) Guidance
Excerpt: "The IRS has issued long awaited proposed regulations governing 403(b) plans. The proposed rules, which would not apply before 2006 and may not be relied upon until finalized, update final regulations issued in 1964, which pre-date ERISA. The proposed rules effectively consolidate legislative and regulatory developments released over the last 40 years that have significantly eroded the differences between 403(b) plans and other salary reduction arrangements, such as 401(k) plans ...." (CCH Pension & Benefits News)
PSCA Comments on the Proposed Regulations Under USERRA of 1994
Excerpt: "PSCA is pleased to comment on the proposed USERRA rule. Section 1002.262 of the proposed rule requires plan sponsors to make contributions on behalf of reemployed military service members to plans that do not require or permit employee contributions within thirty days of reemployment unless it is impossible or unreasonable to do so, in which case the contribution must be made as soon as practicable. The preamble of the proposed rule solicits comments on whether the thirty-day ...." (The Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America)
Summary: New GASB Rules for Public Sector Retirement Plans Finalized
Excerpt: "The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued its final statements on post-employment benefits that will impact pension plans and public employers. Under GASB 45, these benefits must be carried as a liability." (Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. via National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems)
Overview: IRS Warns Plan Sponsors on Using Short Service Employees to Pass Nondiscrimination Tests
Excerpt: "Plans that use employees with short periods of service to insure that most or all of the benefits paid go to the employer's highly compensated employees may violate the nondiscrimination rules of Code Sec. 401(a)(4) even though they ostensibly satisfy the nondiscrimination regulations, according to a directive issued by Carol Gold, the IRS Director of Employee Plans, to EP staff. The EP directive applies to plan designs that effectively limit the amount payable under a retirement ...." (CCH Pension & Benefits News)
Potential Policies and Operational Procedures: Additional Direction for IRA Professionals
Excerpt: "[F]inancial organizations serving as IRA custodians/trustees face many operational and administrative IRA questions that may require them to draft IRA policies and procedures. In many cases, a financial organization may not realize a need for a specific IRA policy or procedure until an IRA owner or beneficiary poses a question or a problem arises. A financial organization can address many operational concerns by individually designing its IRA agreements to include its policies ...." (Bankers Systems, Inc.)
2004 U.S. Investor Perception Study: What Investors Should Know About Investor Protections
Excerpt: "The TD Waterhouse 2004 Investor Perception Study examined investor awareness, expectation, concern and impact around the unequal levels of investor protection provided by stockbrokers and investment advisors offering fee-based financial advice. In particular, the study sought to gauge: The relevance of unequal levels of investor protection around fee-based financial advice; Whether investors understand that different levels of investor protection exist for the same services ...." (401khelpcenter.com)
Opinion: Social Security Is Much More Than a Retirement System; It Is a Political Welfare System
Excerpt: "The basic course of Social Security has remained largely unchanged since it was created by President Roosevelt some 70 years ago. It was born from politics and fashioned along lines of the sweeping social reforms first introduced in Germany by Chancellor Bismarck during the 1880s; it provided for sickness, accident and old age support. The Roosevelt system, too, was cast as a giant welfare system unrelated to an insurance or savings program. Individuals may acquire legal rights ...." (SafeHaven)
Republicans Finding Ways to Account for Social Security Overhaul: Change Expensive in Short Term
Excerpt: "Republican budget writers say they may have found a way to cut the federal deficit even if they borrow hundreds of billions more to overhaul the Social Security system: Don't count all that new borrowing. As they lay the groundwork for what will probably be a controversial fight over Social Security, Republican lawmakers and the Bush administration are examining a number of accounting strategies that would allow the expensive transition to a partially privatized Social Security ...." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
CBO Paper: Disability and Retirement: the Early Exit of Baby Boomers from the Labor Force (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Although the oldest members of the baby-boom generation will not become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits until 2008, when they reach age 62, many of them already have left the labor force. This paper--prepared as part of the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) ongoing examination of the future composition of the labor force and the performance of the economy--uses data from a national survey to provide information about the men and women who leave the ...." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)
The National Conference of Insurance Legislators Consider Broker Suitability Requirement
Excerpt: "The National Conference of Insurance Legislators is weighing in on the broker compensation issue. The Albany, N.Y., group has proposed model legislation that responds to the investigations conducted by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The measure is more comprehensive than a comparable proposal put out by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 15. The NAIC proposal focuses mainly on disclosure." (The National Underwriter Company)
Employee Benefits Legal Alert: Benefit Limits for 2005; New Gross Income Limit on Certain Dependents (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS and the Social Security Administration have announced the cost-of-living adjustments for various limits for 2005. The limits affecting retirement plans are shown ... and the limits for health and certain other fringe benefit plans are shown .... The application of the new gross income limitation for certain dependents is discussed at the end of this Legal Alert. ... These adjustments are effective for plan years that begin on or after January 1, 2005." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Trucker Huss
Excerpt: "Trucker Huss is the largest employee benefits specialty law firm on the West Coast. We provide services to clients nationwide on all aspects of employee benefits counseling and litigation and are dedicated to handling the most sophisticated issues with responsive and high level service. Our clients include Fortune 50 employers, large multi-employer plans, mid-sized and small employers, public sector union and association plans, plan fiduciaries, institutional trustees, other law firms (BenefitsLink.com)
Newly Posted Events
Retirement Plan Law & Regs - A Review of Federal Enforcement Performance & Initiatives for 2005
in Connecticut on December 2, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Stamford Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases
Traditional Pension Plans Outperformed 401(k) Plans During Last Bear Market, Watson Wyatt Analysis Finds
(Watson Wyatt)
"Your 401k Survival Guide" Released: A Book for America's Workforce
(401khelpcenter.com, LLC)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Account Technician
for Alerus Retirement Solutions
in MN
Government Sector Salesperson; Retirement Plans
for CitiStreet- A State Street and Citigroup company
in IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, OH, TN
Daily Valuation Trader
for TPGR Daily, LLC
in AZ
Defined Benefit Requirements Analyst
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Document Compliance Manager
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ
Manager Communications
for BISYS Retirement Services
in MN
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2004 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can reprint this newsletter in full (if you also include this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Published by:
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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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